


injury

by ruzekhalstead



Series: halstead & upton one-shots. [16]
Category: Chicago Med, Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, One Chicago (Chicago Franchise), Upstead, halstead brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26590921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruzekhalstead/pseuds/ruzekhalstead
Summary: “i’m assuming she has a concussion, or else she’s just naturally a pain in the ass of people who actively save her life.”“excuse me? you also actively put my life in danger!”-upstead auprompt: hailey upton is walking home from her bakery late at night, when she is caught in the crossfire of the chicago police department. in detective jay halstead's attempt to save her life, he ends up injuring her anyway. hailey is not impressed.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Series: halstead & upton one-shots. [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634428
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	injury

hailey’s night ended like any other night.

she had to stay late at her bakery to complete a few orders due early the next morning, and easily lost track of time. 

running her own bakery was never what she intended on doing with her life. but when she moved to chicago at a young age, desperate to finish her undergrad, she managed to snag a barista job at this small bakery around the corner of her apartment building. the owners were an older married couple, with no kids and they were absolute sweethearts. they treated hailey like their own and helped her get through university the best they could. it was more than she could ever ask for, considering her home life was never glamorous. 

but they were always there and so, hailey was there for them. when they decided it was time to retire, she did not hesitate when accepting their offer to take over the business. 

it was the least she could do to thank them for everything they did for her. 

hailey was never fond of walking home late at night. she acted like it didn’t bother her, because most of the time, everything was fine. but it always made her a bit nervous. the positive side was that she only lived a few minutes from home. 

after locking up, she turned the corner and headed down an alley, meant as a shortcut to her building. it was very rare that anyone was down there, and if there ever was, she would be sure to take the long way home. she didn’t spot anyone in the alley this particular night. 

she buried her hands in her pockets to protect herself from the chill and kept to the side of the alley. she heard a few footsteps behind her, and ignored them, until they started growing louder and faster. she quickly realized that someone was racing past her, breathing hard and running fast. the male who passed her completely ignored her. 

“chicago pd, stop!”

the loud voice that boomed from behind hailey frightened her as she found herself flinching and faltering in her steps. she could hear more footsteps behind her, but everything was happening so quickly.

as soon as the second male voice behind her finished yelling, the male who had passed her earlier turned back to face in her direction. in a single split second, she watched the male lift his arm and an object that she quickly realized was a gun; he fired two shots. 

“get down!”

it happened all so quickly; she barely got a second to scream before she was harshly knocked to the ground. 

for a minute, she thought she was in fact shot, because the searing pain vibrating through her skull was enough to completely take her breath away. 

she felt herself getting rolled over onto her back and an unfamiliar face entered her eyesight. he was young, with cropped brown hair and piercing green eyes, but he looked stressed and she was in so much pain, she couldn’t think about how unbelievably attractive he was. 

“shit,” he muttered, reaching blindly into his bulletproof vest for his radio. “5021-george, i need an ambo to my current location _now_! i have an injured civilian; laceration to the head!” his voice sounded panicked, which honestly just made her feel worse. she felt like she couldn’t breathe. “suspect is heading north on wellington; i am unable to pursue.”

it only took a moment for his radio to come back to life; she heard a confirmation on an ambulance that was five minutes away. his radio went off again. “5021-ida to main, suspect in custody.”

she watched as the man in front her breathed a sigh of relief, and then his attention solely focused on her. his hands were on her face, tilting her head up so he could get a closer look at the gash on the crown of her head. 

“hey, what’s your name?” he asked in a slightly panicked voice. he had a good poker face, but hailey wasn’t an idiot. she was bleeding out of her head for fuck sakes. “i’m jay, and you’re going to be alright; help is on the way.”

despite the pain in her head, she found herself pushing against his hands to sit up. “what the hell?” she muttered, touching her hand to her head and feeling the crimson liquid. “did someone just try to shoot me?”

jay looked surprised at hailey’s tranquility. “actually, i think they tried to shoot me,” he replied with a half smile, “if that makes you feel any better.”

“it’s doesn’t,” she bit back in response. 

now jay was most definitely surprised at her attitude. 

“an ambulance is on the way; they’ll take you to the hospital to get that looked at,” jay explained, watching as her bright blue eyes darted around their surroundings. “sorry. you should probably try not to move so much.”

hailey glared at him. she wasn’t sure why she was being extra bitchy (considering he’s so damn attractive); maybe it was the head trauma. “i don’t have time to go to the hospital; i have to be back at work in a few hours!”

jay looked puzzled. “well, uh — ”

“just stick a band aid on it and let me go home!”

“yeah, that’s not happening,” he replied, with a hint of a smirk. hailey looked affronted. “you’re bleeding out of your head. you probably need stitches; a band aid is not going to fix that.”

hailey attempted to stand; jay pushed her back down with a hand on her knee. “excuse me,” she snapped with an outraged expression, “do i not have the right to refuse medical care?”

“sure you do,” he snorted, “from a doctor, probably.”

hailey raised an eyebrow. 

“i’m not a doctor though,” he asserted, “so, sit your ass down until the paramedics get here.”

at his dominant tone, hailey stopped squirming and sat still. she could hear the tell-tale sounds of sirens and knew she’d be in good hands soon. jay was still kneeling beside her; he was looking over his shoulder as the ambulance arrived. 

“you still haven’t told me your name,” he queried when he turned back around. she noted his eyes were brilliantly green and he was staring at her with such an intensity that it took her a moment to answer his question. 

hailey watched two paramedics exit the rig with blinding lights. “yeah, as if i’m telling you,” she made a show of squinting at his name on his bullet proof vest, “ _halstead_.” she knew his name was jay, he’d told her, but she was also sporting a blinding headache and she wanted to be a pain in his ass, just like he and his life-saving antics were to her. 

jay merely smirked. “alright, if that’s how you want to play this.” as the paramedics grabbed their gear and came to meet them, jay turned to them with a charming smile. “hey brett,” he nodded to the pretty blonde, “foster,” he nodded at the brunette. 

“hey, jay. nice to see you,” sylvie smiled and kneeled down on hailey’s other side. “what happened here?”

before hailey could recount her story of how she was nearly murdered, only to have jay bash her skull in (accidentally; she knows he saved her life but she’s in pain and cranky), jay jumped in with the response. “i was chasing a suspect and he opened fire. this one happened to be in the way,” he sent a pointed look in hailey’s direction, who once again, looked offended, “pulled her down and out of the way but she hit her head off the concrete.”

“let’s take a look,” sylvie murmured as she grabbed her eye pen flashlight to check her pupils. 

“i’m assuming she has a concussion, or else she’s just naturally a pain in the ass of people who actively save her life.”

hailey let out a sharp gasp, moving her eyes to glare at jay and impede sylvie’s examination. “excuse me? you also _actively_ put my life in danger!”

“right, because i purposely told the offender to turn down this alley!” he shot back defensively. 

sylvie jumped back into the conversation, stopping hailey from telling him exactly where he could shove his excuses. she shared an amused look with her partner. “alright, let’s settle down. what’s your name?”

“hailey upton.”

hailey ignored the eye roll and huff that came from jay’s vicinity. 

“who’s the current president?”

hailey groaned, “god, i wish i didn’t know.”

“good enough,” emily snorted. “how’s your pain on a scale of one to ten?” she questioned, shining a light into her head laceration. 

hailey frowned. “like a very sharp eight.”

“looks like a mild concussion,” sylvie declared, “you’ll also need some stitches for that head wound. so come on with us, we’ll take you over to med.”

hailey sent her a small smile. “thank you.”

she allowed both paramedics to help her up and into the back of the ambulance. jay followed them to make sure they got in alright. sylvie shot jay a curious smirk as emily turned on the engine. “you coming too, jay?”

“no thanks,” jay shook his head. “this whole thing has left me with so much paperwork,” he scratched the back of his head. “i’ll call med later to get an update.”

he makes eye contact with hailey one more time before closing the doors to the rig and pounding on it twice. 

“well, that was certainly something.”

hailey snapped her eyes to meet sylvie’s. “what?” she hummed. 

“you two seemed to have a very fiery connection, is all,” she speculated, laughing. 

hailey grumbled under her breath, “because he _connected_ me and my head to the concrete.” 

sylvie only laughed, with a hint of raised eyebrows. 

* * *

upon arrival, hailey was immediately moved to an observation room and told to wait upon a doctor. her head was still throbbing, worsening by the minute and she just wanted to go home. all she could think about was the delivery that had to be ready in the morning; she still had some finishing touches to apply before it was completely finished. but at this rate, she wasn’t going to make it in. 

her wait was actually shorter than anticipated. within half an hour, a redheaded doctor wearing matching red scrubs entered her room. 

“hey hailey,” he was skimming through her chart, “i’m doctor halstead and i’ll be taking care of your stitches tonight.”

upon hearing the familiar name, she glanced down at his scrubs to confirm it actually was the name she thought she heard.

“oh god, there’s _another_ halstead?”

after hearing her groan in absolute displeasure, will looked up in amusement. “i’m going to assume you’ve met my little brother.”

“you bet your ass i did,” she grumbled in response.

“what did he do?” 

hailey pointed to her head laceration with her thumb. “he is responsible for this, for starters. he knocked me to the ground, which on a good note, saved me from getting murdered by a gunman, but now i’m going to have a scar!”

will winced, “ouch. good thing he has insurance.”

“that’s not funny,” hailey deadpanned. “my head is literally split open.”

“sorry, tough crowd. but at least it’ll be a cool scar,” will laughed unapologetically. hailey watched as he put on some gloves and readied his tray. he grabbed a needle and hailey paled. “sorry,” he grimaced, “this will numb the area so you don’t feel any pain.”

hailey nodded and allowed him to stick the needle in her head. she gasped and squeezed her thigh in pain. “jesus christ,” she mumbled breathily, “i’m going to kill your brother.”

to distract her, will continued their interesting conversation (at least interesting to him). “you said for starters. what else did he do?”

“well, he wouldn’t let me refuse medical treatment,” she spat but will didn’t seem amused. “okay, maybe he was right about that. but he wouldn’t let me stand and he was awfully sassy for a ‘detective,’” she used air quotes. 

will busied himself with her stitches; she was so worked up over jay, she hardly noticed he was halfway finished. “seems to me he was probably trying to match you and your sass.”

hailey’s jaw dropped. “well, aren’t you both incredibly bold?”

“i tell it how i see it,” he laughed. he leaned back and looked at hailey, “your stitches are all done.”

hailey instantly perked up. “what? already?”

“that’s it,” he replied, moving over to the sink to wash his hands. “your concussion is mild, you’ll be fine for discharge in a bit.”

“oh, thank god,” hailey gushed, “i really need to get home and back to work.”

will smiled at her. “let me go get your discharge papers then. oh, and by the way,” he stopped before he exited the glass doors, “my brother is actually a really good guy. it looked like he was just trying to save your life.”

hailey stared at him, crumbling under his intense gaze (god, why do the halstead brothers have such intense gazes?). “i know,” she admitted in defeat. 

he sent her a dazzling smile before officially leaving the room. 

* * *

she was at the front desk signing discharge papers when she heard a familiar voice again.

“was she still really mad?”

“she was bleeding out of her skull, jay. what do you think?”

hailey glanced up to see jay standing beside will. he was wearing the same outfit, minus the bullet proof vest and he looked tired. that was an understatement; he looked absolutely drained and hailey felt bad for giving him hell at nearly two in the morning.

she made eye contact with will over jay’s shoulder and he smiled wickedly. 

“why don’t you just ask her yourself?” he proposed, prompting jay to whirl around and spot her. “have a good night hailey! call me if you have any issues!”

hailey finished signing the papers and thanked the nurse as she handed them back to her. she slowly walked over to jay who was standing with his hands in his front pockets. 

“hey,” she greeted him quietly. 

it was the least aggressive thing she’d said to him all night, so he was pleasantly surprised. “how are you feeling?”

“pain is much better,” she admitted, “i’m sure i’ll be fine in the morning.”

he looked at her before continuing, “i’m really sorry about what happened. i didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.”

“god, don’t apologize,” she shook her head. “you saved my life and i should’ve said thank you hours ago. i was just in pain and really cranky and i’m sorry for giving you hell.”

a cheeky smirk appeared on jay’s face. “it’s alright,” he started, “there’s nothing more attractive about a woman who can call you out on your shit.”

hailey’s mind went blank.

attractive? 

coming from the man she’d berated for twenty minutes straight?

“wait, are you flirting with me?”

of course, that was the first thing that came to hailey’s mind and it also happened to be the thing she accidentally blurted out. 

his green eyes twinkled under the fluorescent lighting. “if i’m allowed, of course,” he teased. “i wasn’t sure what your reaction to me showing up here was going to be,” she merely blinked at him. “but i’d like to take you home, if that’s okay?”

she stared at him dumbly. “um — yes, that’s fine.”

“and i’d also like to get your number,” he added as he walked through the automatic exit doors of the hospital. hailey tripped over the rug and jay’s hand shot out to grab onto her forearm. “because i’d really like to take you out for a drink.”

hailey hoped he wasn’t mistaking the shooketh expression on her face for disinterest — because she was _definitely_ interested. 

“there’s this bar called molly’s,” he suggested. “a lot of the first responders go there after shift; a lot of my friends,” he paused, “could i take you there sometime?”

if she could melt into the ground, she probably would. 

“i, uh — yeah, i think i’d like that.”

her voice was small because she was nervous and he seemed so unbelievably confident.

jay smiled at her so warmly, goosebumps appeared on her arms and the back of her neck. 

“let me take you home, hailey.”

**Author's Note:**

> hi everyone!! it's finally up!!
> 
> i'm especially proud of this one and really enjoyed writing it, i hope you guys enjoyed it too!
> 
> now, i really hope i didn't make hailey come across as super whiny and unbearable. my hope was to convey her as injured and therefore cranky, so her sass would flow more naturally (bc who would be mean to a hunk like jay halstead). so i hope i did hailey justice in this and apologize if anyone didn't like how she was written!!
> 
> i would also like to mention the inspiration to write this fic came from ladyhope528 & her story “under different circumstances” on fanfiction!! if you haven’t read her story yet, do yourself a favour and do so!!
> 
> anyway, let me know what you guys thought in the comments!!
> 
> stay safe x


End file.
